In terms of standardized testing, are we on the right track? It’s a concern shared by many parents and teachers.

State officials and district leaders such as Dr. John Kelly, Pearland Independent School District superintendent are also among those who now question the state’s current testing system.

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Kelly spoke out at a recent Pearland Chamber of Commerce Luncheon where he served as guest speaker. After his presentation, Kelly opened the floor for questions and chamber member Susie Ainsworth raised the issue of standardized testing and asked Kelly about his views.

“I have three children who attend Pearland schools and I am opposed to the pressure it puts on the kids and also on the teachers,” Ainsworth said. “Where do you think it is going?”

“When I first became superintendent twenty years ago, I was gung ho about standardized testing because I wanted to get away from being judged on popularity or other indications. I wanted to be judged on measurable achievement,” Kelly said to the crowd of roughly 100 business and community leaders. “But the system in Texas has way gone overboard. Now there’s testing on everything on every level, multi-tests, tests for different types of students; it has become ridiculous.”

However, not all tests should be eliminated Kelly said.

“We should leave in place the ACT, SAT, the AP test, the college indicators and we should have some level of testing at the grade levels. We need to hold on to higher expectations which the new test does accomplish.” he said. “But, there needs to be less testing so that your whole child’s career is not test practice.”

Kelly also said he shared Ainsworth’s opposition to the existing testing system.

“However, the current standardized testing system has become a monster that only serves the political agenda of a few people in Austin and is not the wishes of the vast majority of parents in Texas,” he said.

Kelly isn’t alone in his criticism of the statewide testing structure.

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott said standardized testing has become a "perversion of its original intent," and went on to say he was looking forward to "reeling it back in."

At the TASA annual midwinter conference, Scott said he believed testing was "good for some things," but that in Texas it has gone too far and called for an accountability system that measured "what happens on every single day in the life of a school besides testing day."